Saturday • MOTR Pub

Charlie Parr makes the old new. He has recorded 11 studio albums that treat traditional American music as a living, evolving musical form. On his most recent record, this year’s Barnswallow, he sings gruffly and plays banjo and two National steel guitars along with accompanists on washboard, thumb piano, harmonica, jaw-harp and stomping feet.

Monday • MOTR Pub

Former Ponys frontman Jered Gummere took
an extended hiatus after the demise of his previous noisemaking unit,
even going as far as to get a day job at a friend’s woodshop. When he finally felt the twitch to make music again, forming
Bare Mutants with four other Windy City buddies, it was no surprise that The Velvet Underground would be at the forefront of his mind.

Nov. 29 • MOTR Pub

Naming a band The Melodic means you
instantly have a lot to live up to. That’s no problem here — The Melodic
are, indeed, beautifully melodic. And the new British Folk ensemble’s
free local appearance Friday should be a delight.

Dec. 2 • MOTR Pub

Eric Kuhn and Erica Fink have been making
beautiful music together for a relatively short time, but the Oakland, Calif., duo’s easy
rapport and creative chemistry is immediately evident in their warm,
gauzy, minimalistic Indie Pop.

Stepdad’s Nathan K. returns to Cincinnati next month for a legal defense fundraiser

One week ago today, on Nov. 14, the fun and increasingly acclaimed Michigan-based Electro Pop band Stepdad was bringing its nearly two-month, nationwide tour to a close and was set to perform at Cincinnati’s MOTR Pub. The band had a great fall tour; outside of some trouble with its tour van, things had gone smoothly until that point. With a few final shows on the tour after the Cincinnati date in their home state, the band members were heading into the homestretch and returning home triumphantly. Then one of them them got arrested. Stepdad had played Pittsburgh the night before its MOTR date, driving through the night and grabbing a room at the Super 8 motel in Cincy exburb Mason, Ohio, (north of the city and near the Kings Island amusement park, where the Brady Bunch once frolicked) to get some rest. Early in the morning of Nov. 14, Stepdad’s Nathan John Klages — a multi-instrumentalist and also a solo singer/songwriter who works under the name Nathan K. — was arrested at the motel, charged with public indecency and “obstruction official business,” according to the police report. Klages got arrested for doing something many, many men have done — taking a piss outside. He was booked into the Warren County Jail. The look on his face in the above mugshot is one of understandable confusion, probably a little anger and definitely a lot of fatigue after working all night and then traveling. Fortunately, according to a press release from MOTR, Klages was fined and released just prior to showtime and Stepdad was able to fulfill the date. But because sometimes you gotta go when you gotta go (especially when traveling in a van for hours), Klages now has to deal with the financial fall out of the fines and the cost of traveling back to town for court.MOTR’s people and Klages aren’t saying much more about the arrest, or his defense, on the advice of his lawyers, so the facts surrounding the great pee incident and exactly what happened — did he or didn’t he? — are currently vague, outside of what was in the police report (which wasn’t much). MOTR Pub is stepping up to lend a hand to Nathan K., welcoming him back to Cincinnati on December 17 to perform his compelling Indie Folk and raise some cash for his legal defense. The Nathan K. Legal Defense Fundraiser will start at 9 p.m. that Tuesday and the club is asking for “fans of Stepdad, and fans of blind justice, and fans of rock 'n' roll, and fans of Nathan K. to attend the show and join us in throwing a fiver or a ten-spot in Nathan K.'s hat to offset his debts and to make something good of the bad.” You can also help Klages out, of course, by purchasing some music from him. Here is his Bandcamp page and official site. Below is the title track from his most recent release, last year’s Dishes album; click on the player for a free download sample (on the page, hit “Buy Now” and simply put “0” in the price field). Dishes also includes a track called “Criminal,” oddly enough, that features the opening lines, “I’m not a criminal though I've killed people in my dreams/And I've never had to steal/Though I've been known to dine with thieves/And to tell the truth they're just like me.” Anyone who’s had to pee outside out of necessity is just like Nathan. Though most of us don’t get shackled and tossed in a cell for it.Dishes by Nathan K.Below is MOTR Pub’s full press release about the incident and benefit:Those souls in attendance at MOTR Pub for the November 14 show by underground pop superstars STEPDAD won't soon forget it. Neither will Stepdad's NATHAN K. He might never forget it -- because of a very wrong reason.
The evening before the show, the band, which hails from Grand Rapids, Michigan, was staying at a motel in Mason, Ohio. It was there where Nathan K. was arrested for -- allegedly -- urinating in the great outdoors. Nathan was subsequently charged with public indecency and taken to the Warren County Jail, where his arms and legs were placed in shackles and he was placed in a cell.
He was fined, processed, and eventually released just before showtime, so as to avert what would have been the compounded injustice of having to cancel the show.
Taking into account the advice of the legal defense, we will say nothing about the charge levied against Nathan. However, Nathan is saddled with fines and travel expenses related to this episode. He must return from Michigan to Southwest Ohio on Tuesday, December 17 to face the judge, and we, at MOTR Pub, want to help.
Nathan has agreed to play a set at MOTR Pub on Tuesday, December 17 at 9 p.m. We are asking fans of Stepdad, and fans of blind justice, and fans of rock 'n' roll, and fans of Nathan K. to attend the show and join us in throwing a fiver or a ten-spot in Nathan K.'s hat to offset his debts and to make something good of the bad.

Since Los Angeles is one of the centers of the music universe, being dubbed the “Best Live Band” in the city is an incredibly high honor. Energetic eight-member Americana ensemble The Dustbowl Revival received that exact honor this year when the city’s L.A. Weekly named the group the Best Live Band of 2013 in its Best of L.A. issue. Tonight you can see and hear for yourself when The Dustbowl Revival headlines MOTR Pub in Over-the-Rhine. Brad Loans of local greats The Sundresses opens the free show at around 10 p.m. with a solo set.
The Revival’s kitchen-sink approach touches on a bigger-than-usual array of American Roots music influences, from Western Swing, New Orleans Jazz, Dixieland and Be Bop to Blues, Gospel, Folk and numerous other styles (both expected and not). Delivered using the classic tools of the Americana trade (numerous brass instruments, fiddle, clarinet, mandolin, washboard, harmonica and kazoo, plus stand-up bass and guitars), The Dustbowl Revival’s latest release, Carry Me Back Home, was released to critical acclaim earlier this year. But, if the enthusiastic testaments online are any indication, seeing the group’s wildly entertaining live show is the best way to experience the Revival.
• Punk rockers turning to Folk and Roots music is nothing new (see: Billy Bragg, The Pogues), but it’s become a not unwelcome epidemic in the past decade. It’s easy to see the appeal — Punk and Folk are kissing cousins that share a raw purity and, often, a sense of social/political justice in the lyrics.
Another part of the appeal may just be how some of the artists who make the shift and go full Folk have found huge success after the makeover. Frank Turner, for example. The British folkie was the singer for Hardcore Punk band Million Dead in the early ’00s. The band’s run was short and relatively successful, but nothing compared to what Turner has experienced since strapping on an acoustic guitar and going solo in 2005 after the band’s split. After his debut album in 2007, Turner’s career took off and he built his now-huge fanbase by touring with bands like The Gaslight Anthem, The Offspring and Green Day, which had him open stadium shows for the band in 2010.
This year, Turner released his fifth album, Tape Deck Heart, his first recorded in the U.S. and his first under a global deal with Interscope Records. Turner comes to the Ballroom at the Taft Theatre tonight in support of the album. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. Koo Koo Kanga Roo and The Smith Street Band open. Tickets are $20 at the door. Turner is touring with his full backing band, The Sleeping Souls.
Here’s the video for the new album single “Losing Days”:
• Two up-and-coming Rock crews with a rising presence on the FM Rock airways cruise into Bogart’s tonight. The Classic Rock-influenced bands Taddy Porter and Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights play at 7 p.m. Read Amy Harris’ interview with Tyler for CityBeat here and check out Taddy Porter’s video for the single “The Gun” below:
Click here for even more live music options in Greater Cincinnati tonight.

A lot of the great up-and-coming touring artists that made September’s MidPoint Music Festival one of the best yet have been building on their MPMF momentum and returning to the area. Even some of the bands that canceled their MPMF appearances have made their way back.
Korea’s Love X Stereo had travel issues and missed this year’s MidPoint, but recently played MOTR Pub (the club owned by MPMF artistic director Dan McCabe) and now the amazing seven-piece Wisconsin crew PHOX (who missed MPMF to tour with Blitzen Trapper) is headed to the same venue tonight for a great double-bill with San Francisco Psych Rock/Shoegaze outfit (and MPMF alumnus) Sleepy Sun.
The wonderfully eclectic PHOX, which recently announced a new recording was in the works, appear to be on the verge of very big things; seems like everyone who hears the band’s gorgeous and unique mesh of Folk, Indie Rock, Soul, Americana, Jazz, Chamber Pop and other styles instantly falls in love with them. In September, the group issued a live EP taken from its appearance at the ITunes Festival in London. It was the follow-up to its Confetti EP, released earlier this year with an endearing companion “music video EP” featuring clips for each track on the release. Check it out below:
Tonight’s show at MOTR (the venue’s website is calling it “a once-in-a-lifetime MUST SEE Mind Melting Monday Mash-Up”) starts at 9:30 p.m. and, like all MOTR shows, is free.
Click here for more live music options in Greater Cincinnati tonight.

Buoyant Electro Pop group Stepdad pulls into MOTR Pub in Over-the-Rhine tonight. The free show kicks off around 10 p.m. with locals Halvsies.
Stepdad was formed in Chicago in 2009 by frontman Mark “Ultramark” Tafel and his roommate, Ryan McCarthy. The duo — which has grown Stepdad into a five-piece band over time — soon relocated to Grand Rapids, Mich., and self-released its debut recording, the Ordinaire EP, online. The EP drew wider attention to Stepdad, which signed to Michigan indie label Quite Scientific and re-released the EP in 2011.
After completing its debut album, Wildlife Pop, with a little help from Kickstarter, the band signed with Black Bell Records, the relatively new imprint founded by Passion Pit’s Ayad Al Adhamy and distributed by Warner Brothers Records. Wildlife Pop, released last summer, is an incredibly endearing listen, layering vintage-sounding synth bleeps and squiggles with broader, lush Electro atmospherics and a rhythmic base that is muscular and dance floor ready. At the core is Ultramark’s steady stream of exuberant melodies, which adds greatly to Stepdad’s jubilant sound (though, spoiler alert, the lyrics can be much deeper and darker than the upbeat vibe suggest). Wildlife Pop falls somewhere between the M83’s shadowy, cerebral Electronic explorations and Capital Cities’ (see below) warm and cheerily infectious Dance Pop.
Here is the music video for Wildlife Pop single, “Will I Ever Dance Again”:
• Virtuoso Blues/Rock/Roots guitarist, songwriter and singer Sonny Landreth returns to Cincinnati tonight for an 8 p.m. show at Oakley’s 20th Century Theater. Rootsy local rockers Monkeytonk open.
After cutting his teeth in the ’70s playing with Zydeco/Cajun/Roots accordionist Clifton Chenier, Landreth (who grew up in Louisiana) launched his solo career in the ’80s, building his reputation as a masterful player and innovative slide guitarist. Landreth’s unique technique involves playing chords behind the slide leads, which he taps, slaps and picks with his right hand. Since the mid-’90s, Landreth has released a dozen albums that have been stylistic adventurous, a testament to his impressive versatility. The guitarist’s playing shows that Blues, Jazz, Rock, Cajun and many other types of music have greatly informed his boundless approach to writing and performing. (Landreth is also a popular session musician, having recorded with artists like Jimmy Buffett, Mark Knopfler, John Hiatt and numerous others.)
Last year, Landreth released another wildly diverse album, Elemental Journey, his first all-instrumental effort which features guests like fellow guitar wizards Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson, as well as additives like symphonic strings and steel drums.
Here is a live clip of Landreth performing at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2010:
• Over at Covington’s Madison Theater tonight, bring your dancing shoes because Fitz and the Tantrums and Capital Cities are going to have the venue jumping with their ear-grabbing/dance-inducing sounds. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. and the event is open to all ages. Tickets are $25 at the door. L.A.’s Electro Dance rockers Beat Club open.
L.A. band Fitz and the Tantrums’ propulsive, modern update of vintage Soul/R&B caught the music world’s attention in 2010 with the release of their debut LP, Pickin’ Up the Pieces, both a critical and commercial success thanks in part to the powerful single, “MoneyGrabber,” a song that was perfectly timed to the national outrage over big banks and other mischievous financial institutions that led to the Occupy Wall Street movement. The Tantrums’ second album (and major-label debut), More Than Just a Dream, was released by Elektra Records this past May. Here’s a clip for that album’s “Out of My League”:
Electro Pop duo Capital Cities garnered a lot of mainstream attention this year with its debut album, In a Tidal Wave of Mystery, released in June through Capitol Records. The album features the insistently catchy and winsome singles “Kangaroo Court” and “Safe and Warm,” both from the twosome’s self-titled 2011 EP debut. Like MGMT’s “Kids” or Walk the Moon’s “Anna Sun,” songs that were originally issued on earlier, pre-fame recordings but were released to widespread success on their respective major label debuts, “Safe and Sound” was released originally in 2011 and, two years later, continues to earn Capital Cities more fans. The duo’s super-catchy Synth Pop is hard to resist and the more people are exposed to Capital Cities, the bigger they seem to get.
• R&B singer Jaheim was already wowing audiences at a young age, winning the infamous talent show at the Apollo Theater three times when he was just 15. It was the start of a long, fruitful career that kicked off in earnest when the singer was in his early 20s and was signed to the Warner Brothers-distributed label Divine Mill. Since his debut album in 2001, Jaheim has been a regular visitor to the upper airspace of the R&B charts. His new album, Appreciation Day, was released earlier this year and earned praise for being one of the best displays of Jaheim’s seamless blending of the classic seductive R&B artists like Teddy Pendergrass and Luther Vandross popularized with today’s Neo Soul and Hip Hop-informed approach. Here’s the album’s single “Age Ain’t a Factor”:
Jaheim brings his “Appreciation Tour” with singer Chrisette Michele to downtown’s Aronoff Center tonight, in the venue's Procter & Gamble Hall. Showtime is 7:30 p.m.
Click here for more live music options in Greater Cincinnati tonight.

• Mega Monster Metal superstars GWAR return to Bogart’s in Corryville tonight for a 7:30 p.m., all-ages show. “Earth’s only openly extra-terrestrial rock band” formed in the mid-’80s, developed an over-the-top live show that makes a KISS concert look like a children’s Halloween party (with B-movie horror film theatrics that look straight outta Troma) and have become one of America’s great cult bands.
The group continues to churn out albums that unveil the mythology behind GWAR, the latest being this year’s Battle Maximus. What’s it about? Oh, you know, usual GWAR stuff:
“GWAR's Battle Maximus features twelve brand new tracks that not only honor their departed ally, but tells the story of GWAR's latest struggle against what may be their greatest enemy yet — the insidious "Mr. Perfect", who has travelled through time itself to steal the power of GWAR — the power of immortality, and use this power to mutate the human race into his twisted vision of what the "perfect" human should be. Once again GWAR finds themselves as the only thing standing between the human race and the latest super-powered shithead bent on the destruction of GWAR and the enslavement of their worshippers.”
GWAR front-alien Oderus Urungus recently showed that he does have a softer(ish) side. Here he is reading Goodnight Moon for the children of the galaxy. In his own way, of course (i.e. it’s NSFW):
• On the other end of the sonic spectrum, Over-the-Rhine’s MOTR Pub welcomes Chicago’s lilting, folksy ensemble The Horse’s Ha to the club for a free show tonight. The band was formed in 2002 by Janet Bean, member of great Chicago acts Freakwater and Eleventh Dream Day, and James Elkington, guitarist (and drummer) for various acts, including Jon Langford’s band Skull Orchard. The group’s gorgeous slant on American and British Folk, laced with pointed harmonies and exquisite cello, has been showcased on just a pair of albums, including this summer’s Waterdrawn.
Fans of talented acoustic guitarists will appreciate Elkington’s playing; he recorded a duo album of acoustic fingerstyle guitar pieces with Nathan Salsburg called Avos in 2011. Salsburg is opening tonight free MOTR show at around 10 p.m.
Here’s a taste of the Ha’s most recent album:
Click here for more live music options tonight in Greater Cincinnati.